Real Madrid (old thread)

[Beast]

I mean you would look @ la liga and say it will be either Barca or Real

look from 98 to 2003/2004 you cannot even put money on them..easily 5-6 strong teams can win it

 

[Beast]

Those were the best examples you could come up with??! By struggling I mean being in the run for the title, not beating teams here and there, only reaching QFs or the semi finals (at best) as their biggest achievement! Super Depor never had it to fight for the CL. They were Super Depor mostly because of their success in the league and that they were a hard-working team with lots of chemisty in their team. They were a tough opponent to face in that period, but I can't really call 'em a dominant or the team to beat at the time. You should know better that Depor was never that great to be in the run for the CL title. In the Galacticos era Bayern, Real and Valencia were the teams to beat in Europe. The rest of the teams were just behind them. You don't seriously think that Leeds United team was that strong to fight for the titles do you?! Where did they finish in the PL in the season they reached the semi final of the CL?

Super Depor were a great team in Europe and in la liga.. but as i explained you are not playing weak teams you are playing very strong teams all over Europe
Leeds was quite good and they ended up 4th in the year they reached the semi-final so your point is ?
that was one awesome team of leeds from Martyn to Rio Ferdinaned , Ian harte,Dacourt,Woodgate, Kewel , Bowyer, Alan Smith, Batty,Viduka ..etc

Did you really watch that team ???

It's easy to look now and say Leeds was crap.. those who lived that era know they were not

 

[dalitis8]

Those were the best examples you could come up with??! By struggling I mean being in the run for the title, not beating teams here and there, only reaching QFs or the semi finals (at best) as their biggest achievement! Super Depor never had it to fight for the CL. They were Super Depor mostly because of their success in the league and that they were a hard-working team with lots of chemisty in their team. They were a tough opponent to face in that period, but I can't really call 'em a dominant or the team to beat at the time. You should know better that Depor was never that great to be in the run for the CL title. In the Galacticos era Bayern, Real and Valencia were the teams to beat in Europe. The rest of the teams were just behind them. You don't seriously think that Leeds United team was that strong to fight for the titles do you?! Where did they finish in the PL in the season they reached the semi final of the CL?

I tend to agree with you. The English league was not very strong at the time. Only United were a genuinely top team from England back then. Arsenal? The combo of Henry-Bergkamp was not enough to make them a genuine CL contender. Leeds, Liverpool or Newcastle or Chelsea were of a low quality overall.

But Italy had great teams back then, in Juve and Milan especially. But La Liga was were it was back then.

 

[dalitis8]

Super Depor were a great team in Europe and in la liga.. but as i explained you are not playing weak teams you are playing very strong teams all over Europe
Leeds was quite good and they ended up 4th in the year they reached the semi-final so your point is ?
that was one awesome team of leeds from Martyn to Rio Ferdinaned , Ian harte,Dacourt,Woodgate, Kewel , Bowyer, Alan Smith, Batty,Viduka ..etc

Did you really watch that team ???

It's easy to look now and say Leeds was crap.. those who lived that era know they were not

We are not saying they were crap, we are saying they were not CL contenders. Their run to the semis was a fairy-tale. A bit like Lyon's two years back.

 

[Chainsaw]

Super Depor were a great team in Europe and in la liga.. but as i explained you are not playing weak teams you are playing very strong teams all over Europe
Leeds was quite good and they ended up 4th in the year they reached the semi-final so your point is ?
that was one awesome team of leeds from Martyn to Rio Ferdinaned , Ian harte,Dacourt,Woodgate, Kewel , Bowyer, Alan Smith, Batty,Viduka ..etc

Did you really watch that team ???

It's easy to look now and say Leeds was crap.. those who lived that era know they were not

Yes, except that I never said Leeds was crap, did I?! Leeds, Depor, Arsenal.. all these teams you made as examples were all good teams in Europe at that time. But, none of them were that great to be in the run for the CL title. Leeds had a one season wonder in that year, just like many other teams had in the last decade (Leverkusen, Monaco, Porto...). I remember Valencia really beat Leeds with ease for what you could expect for a semi-final tie in the CL. That period almost completely belonged to the Spanish teams (Real, Valencia) and Bayern. Italian teams were in sleep while the English teams after what Man United has achieved in 1999 struggled to maintain their place as the top dogs in Europe. In 2003 when Milan and Juve ended the Spanish dominance in Europe, and with the revive of Barcelona under Joan Laporta the demise of the Galacticos has begun to the point that Perez was no more wanted in Madrid.

 

[Beast]

Fairy tale in the times of the galactico .. this was the high of Leeds Utd

Ditto for Arsenal it wasn't just Henry/Bergkamp

the line up for example in 2001 had
Bergamp, Ashley Cole, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pirès, Fredrik Ljungberg,Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry
Giovanni van Bronckhorst , Matthew Upson ,Sol Campbell , Edu..etc

You cannot say it was just Denni and Thiry but damn the competition was awesome

 

[Chainsaw]

But Italy had great teams back then, in Juve and Milan especially. But La Liga was were it was back then.

Italian teams were shambolic in that period. Coming to the competition with high hopes only being eliminated in huge despair.

 

[Beast]

Yes, except that I never said Leeds was crap, did I?! Leeds, Depor, Arsenal.. all these teams you made as examples were all good teams in Europe at that time. But, none of them were that great to be in the run for the CL title. Leeds had a one season wonder in that year, just like many other teams had in the last decade (Leverkusen, Monaco, Porto...). I remember Valencia really beat Leeds with ease for what you could expect for a semi-final tie in the CL. That period almost completely belonged to the Spanish teams (Real, Valencia) and Bayern. Italian teams were in sleep while the English teams after what Man United has achieved in 1999 struggled to maintain their place as the top dogs in Europe. In 2003 when Milan and Juve ended the Spanish dominance in Europe, and with the revive of Barcelona under Joan Laporta the demise of the Galacticos has begun to the point that Perez was no more wanted in Madrid.

Barca was not as demised as you want them to be.. again they were strong but not as strong to compete with the stronger teams till the end .. reaching the semi-final was their high end
I totally disagree about any of the teams being asleep during that period.. if there was dominance it was due to being slightly better/lucky/tactically better but not as we see now where it's mostly David and Goliath between Real & Barca and the rest of Europe

 

[dalitis8]

Italian teams were shambolic in that period. Coming to the competition with high hopes only being eliminated in huge despair.

I did not say they were the best. But they were much better than what they have been for the past few years (only this year have they shown any potency, Inter 2010 aside)

Like we all know, La Liga ruled Europe in those days, Munich were also very strong and hell, even Leverkusen. The island was weak, but the continent was strong, to put it in a nutshell.

Who remembers the absolutely amazing Dynamo Kiev of 1999 btw? That was quite a lovely side! Very unlucky to get eliminated by Munich.

@ Arsenal. Even though their team looked good on paper, they were never real contenders for the title.

 

[Chainsaw]

Barca was not as demised as you want them to be.. again they were strong but not as strong to compete with the stronger teams till the end .. reaching the semi-final was their high end
I totally disagree about any of the teams being asleep during that period.. if there was dominance it was due to being slightly better/lucky/tactically better but not as we see now where it's mostly David and Goliath between Real & Barca and the rest of Europe

Well let's just agree to disagree about this. That Barca was a mess for all the money Gaspart had wasted for all the incompetent players he brought in. Beside the dutch fetish that was going on in the club at the time. That team had difficulty getting even a CL spot for 2 seasons. I dunno if you could call that 'strong' enough for sure.

 

[dalitis8]

Arsenal in Europe circa 2000:

98/99: eliminated by Dynamo Kiev in the GS

99/00: eliminated by Barca and Fiorentina at the 1st GS

00/01: eliminated by Valencia in the quarters on agg.

01/02: finished 2nd in the first group stage behind Panathinaikos, and were eliminated in the 2nd by Deportivo and Leverkusen

02/03: eliminated in the 2nd group stage by Valencia and Ajax

03/04: eliminated by Chelsea in the quarters

04/05: eliminated by Munich in the Last 16


Never reached a semi, basically, and always failed against La Liga opposition.

 

[dalitis8]

Well let's just agree to disagree about this. That Barca was a mess for all the money Gaspart had wasted for all the incompetent players he brought in. Beside the dutch fetish that was going on in the club at the time. That team had difficulty getting even a CL spot for 2 seasons. I dunno if you could call that 'strong' enough for sure.

That Barca was made to look a lot worse than it actually was, largely due to the extreme competitiveness of La Liga at the time. Just go through European results at the time. Spanish clubs terrorized Europe back then. It was not just Barca/Madrid.

 

[Chainsaw]

That Barca was made to look a lot worse than it actually was, largely due to the extreme competitiveness of La Liga at the time. Just go through European results at the time. Spanish clubs terrorized Europe back then. It was not just Barca/Madrid.

Nothing to do with that. That Barca was just not good enough. With all the money Gaspart spent for that team the outcome was pretty average. Valencia demolished Barca in Europe at that time. It was just embarrassing to watch Barca being tore apart like that.

 

[Beast]

That Barca was made to look a lot worse than it actually was, largely due to the extreme competitiveness of La Liga at the time. Just go through European results at the time. Spanish clubs terrorized Europe back then. It was not just Barca/Madrid.

I agree with that completely.. they still reached two semi-finals

As for Arsenal again , it's the same team that was the "INVINCIBLE " later on.. basically when you look @ Arsenal and how they crashed you would say they were crap but they were not simply the competition was so good
I mean any one would say oh they were so crap they crashed to D Kiev but that was one hell of a Kiev team
same for Fiorentina , Ajax team in 2003 had so much talents that graced the scenes later on

 

[Chainsaw]

And btw, the season that Barca reached the semi-final they beat Panathinaikos (if I'm not wrong) in the QF. Wasn't a big task to fullfill actually.